“Me too,” Cope agreed. “Seems like our husbands are having the time of their lives though.”
Fitz laughed. “Jace lives for these events. He loves talking to other people about their needs and wants and how he can help other charitable organizations prosper. He can have it. I’d rather be home reading Aurora stories.”
Cope felt the same way. Tonight was the first time he wouldn’t be home to give Lizbet her bath and put her to bed. His heart hurt over the idea that a perfect stranger had tucked his daughter in. Did she follow Cope’s instructions about turning on her nightlight? Did she read Lizbet’s favorite book about a taco loving dragon? Deep down, he knew that tonight wouldn’tmatter in the grand scheme of life. Neither his son nor his daughter would remember the one night their fathers weren’t home to sing the goodnight song.
“How about you, Ten? You ready to hit the road?” Fitz asked.
“More than ready,” Ten agreed. “Everly had a little incident at school today and she was a bit anxious over it. I didn’t have much of a chance to talk to her about it. At least we’ve got the rest of the weekend to get to the bottom of it.”
Wolf had mentioned Everly getting into a bit of an argument with one of their classmates. He’d mentioned the fight being over fashion, but didn’t elaborate beyond that. Cope knew Everly loved to wear fashionable clothes, but wasn’t the type who’d get into an argument with another student over something so simple. “Is she okay?”
Ten nodded. “Apparently, this little girl came at her for wearing a shirt with a rainbow on it, saying something about how the gays stole the rainbow from God.”
“Seriously?” Cope shook his head. He knew how religious the south could be. Having grown up in New Orleans, his life revolved around witchcraft and Jesus, an odd pairing, but both of his parents were equally devoted to their side of the equation. Living in Massachusetts had been an eye-opening experience, in that religion wasn’t the center of the universe. Cope was a big believer in separation of church and state, but knew that other people were not.
“Yeah, the kid was saying that Ronan and I were going to spend eternity burning in hell for our sins and that if Everly didn’t denounce us, she would too.”
Cope was appalled. “I can’t believe this kid said that. What six year old uses the word ‘denounce’?”
Ten shook his head. “This is the same kind of bullshit I grew up listening to at the Union Chapel Calvary Baptist Church. I’m guessing there’s a lot ofdenouncinggoing on in churches all over Salem, what with our history of witchcraft and the huge LGBTQ+ community.”
Cope knew it wasn’t just in churches in Salem. “How did Everly respond?”
“She told the kid they were wrong and started to walk away, but that’s when the little girl grabbed her and tried to pull her shirt off, screaming that she had no right to wear it.”
Cope’s eyes widened. “Wolf didn’t say anything about that.”
“It happened when they were going back inside from recess. This kid and Everly were two of the last students to go back into the building. She was pulled away from her by one of the teachers and they both ended up in the principal’s office.” Ten raised his hand and waved when he caught Ronan’s attention.
“I’m so sorry, Ten. I had no idea. There wasn’t anything about this sent home in Wolf’s folder.” What the hell was the world coming to? He’d seen the shirt Everly had been wearing and it featured just a rainbow, there were no pro-gay slogans or logos.
“The school hasn’t decided what to do about it yet. That little prick should be expelled.” Ten wore an aggravated look.
“That little prick should be arrested for assault and battery!” Ronan said, when he joined the group. “Ten told me I couldn’t show up at her house with my handcuffs.”
“The last thing we need is for you to get arrested yourself or for those parents to sue us. You know they’re just itching forpeople like usto trample on their rights.” Ten rolled his eyes.
“It’s a fight when it’s for their rights, but when they’re doing the same thing to us, it’s a different matter.” Ronan looked as if he had a lot more to say on the subject, but seemed to be using his self-control to keep it inside.
Cope stood up and scanned the crowd for his husband. It was half past ten and he wanted to go home to their kids and his own bed. The problem was that he couldn’t see Jude. With his husband standing a few inches over six feet, he should have been easy to spot. “Where the hell is Jude?”
Ronan turned toward the crowd. “He’s over there in the corner. I’ll go grab him.”
The corner Ronan headed toward was near the exit to the ballroom. Three more steps and Blondie would have had Jude out the door. He hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to how much Jude had to drink, there had been a cocktail before dinner and wine during the meal, but only God knew how many drinks other people had brought him over the course of the night. Cope relaxed a bit when he saw Ronan leading Jude back to them.
“Can you believe it?” Jude was saying to Ronan. He had and arm slung over Ronan’s shoulders, while Ronan was doing all he could to steady Jude, who was swaying from side to side as he spoke.
“Can you believe what?” Cope asked, feeling annoyed. Jude’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, he was definitely drunk. He didn’t usually drink at all around Ronan and only had a glass or two of wine when they went out to dinner without the kids. Staring at his happily sloppy husband, he barely recognized Jude at all.
“Jerry Dunkirk!” Jude said, with a huge grin on his face. “I used to know him back in the day. Hung like a fucking horse.”Jude held his arms out wide to demonstrate and nearly tipped over. Thankfully, Fitzgibbon grabbed him before he could hit the floor. “You wanna meet him? He doesn’t believe I’ve been tamed by one man.”
“No, thanks,” Cope most definitely didnotwant to meet Jerry. Knowing he was one of Jude’s former lovers just added insult to injury. Cope knew his husband would never cheat on him, but his behavior tonight still rankled. He looked around the room for the photographer who’d been shooting pictures of the attendees all night. Cope didn’t see him around and hoped that meant there hadn’t been any pictures taken of his drunk husband with a man who was not Cope. “Let’s just go home.”
Jude opened his mouth, looking like he had something to say on the matter, but Fitzgibbon whispered something and he stayed quiet.
As Cope left the ballroom he caught sight of Jerry. He waved to Jude and smirked at Cope, placing both hands over his heart in a gesture that said Jude was his for the taking.
Cope simply smiled. It would be a cold day in hell that Jude would choose that big-dicked freak over him and their family.
